Inspirations

HOLD ON

Hold on to the company of people who uplift you

even if they’re not pure gold

Hold on to your laughter

even if you can’t hold back the tears

Hold on to your dreams

even if they seem old and faded

Hold on to the many tunes inside your head

even if they’re only half remembered

Hold on to what you know lives within you

even if you can’t always feel the pulse

Hold on to your own drum-beat

even if its rhythm is uneven

Hold on

even if it would be easy to let go

- By Jane Ulysses Grell - January 2005

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ISIAH 55:12

For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.

The mountains and the hill shall break forth into singing,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

- Sent in by Enide Freeman

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PROGRESSION

Their blocking me from progression

Trying to cause my regression

They can’t abide

That I preside

Adept and Articulate

Thinking how ridiculous!

She’s a woman, sole parent and Black

We can’t let her progress

Not someone like that!

I don’t fit into their Oxbridge ideal

I come from the streets - I’m real

I grew up in South London, Peckham

Raised by a Caribbean mum

I rate myself second to none

Not afraid to speak my mind

About discrimination I find

I know my rights and represent

All those people that they resent

They call me an ethnic minority

But not with my consent

I define myself as a majority

And that term they use I resent

Only to have to look at the world

To see we make up the majority

That term is just mental slavery

Designed to undermine the likes of you and me

So their blocking me from progression

Call it a permanent recession

Don’t want to see someone of my gender or race

Honour their executive boards with my grace

But when I tell them how I feel

Give it to them straight - remember I’m real

They tell me they find me

Aggressive

Confrontational

And

Excessive

But you know if I was white and male

Educated at Cambridge, Oxford or even Yale

They’d tell me they find me

Assertive

Sensational

And

Progressive

But I’m an Ethnic Majority

My ancestors fought slavery

And like a suffragette

It’s not over yet

Because I’ll rise above them one day soon

Despite their secret chants of the “N Word” and “Coon”

You see I’m fired with a flame

That will burn out their shame

I may not rise to fame

But I can play them at their own game

And though they won’t give me a level playing field

To disseminate all I yield

Just remember I’ve combatted

Racism

Sexism

Fascism

And

Oppression

Simultaneously

Not in succession

And I’m still standing, still achieving

And there’s no way I’m leaving

They may block my progression in the workplace

But I will always achieve - see this face

They may spit at it

Look down on it

Shut doors in it

Disregard it

But still I shine in the face of adversity

And I didn’t need to go to University

To figure out what they’re about

I may be a woman and I may be Black

But, know something, I’m proud of that

Life isn’t a concession

And I’ve got a confession

I overcame multiple oppression

So I sure as hell don’t need permission

To achieve promotion and progression

And that’s the end of this lesson

- By Zita Holbourne - 2003

(Dedicated to all talented Black women held back when they tried to step forward in life)

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THEN THEY CAME FOR ME

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

- Martin Niemöller